This is a Japanese homey dish I used to cook back in Tokyo. Chop the veg, mix with sauce, stir-fry well, done in 15 minutes. Thanks to the sweet miso sauce, it’s a vegetarian dish you won’t feel monotonous.
A Versatile Sweet Miso Sauce
A basic Japanese miso sauce requires the followings: miso, cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar and water. Most of the Japanese miso sauce involve mirin. But actually what is mirin? Do we really need it in a recipe?
Understand the Roles of Mirin
First, we need to understand that the main ingredients of mirin are:
- Sticky rice (もち米)
- Rice malt (米麹)
- Rice shochu (米焼酎) or brewed alcohol (醸造アルコール)
The sugar and alcohol content in mirin have 3 main roles:
- Sugar gives the dish a glossy finish.
- Alcohol deodorizes unwanted smell from meat and fish.
- Sugar and alcohol both reduce the loss of starch in a food, so to hold the shape better.
In this recipe, the ingredients are aubergine and sweet pepper, both are non-starchy vegetables and in no way they will lose their shapes. At the same time, there is no need to deodorize, too! So I did not add mirin to the sauce since it’s not required.
The sweetness in the miso sauce can be adjusted freely. I usually start with less sugar, aiming to obtain a healthier sugar level. I also added cooking sake and soy sauce to enhance the fragrance and umami.
As long as you remember how to make the basic miso sauce, anytime you can make a tasty stir-fry with miso in a few minutes!
Aubergine Recipe with Sweet Miso Sauce
Feel free to swap the aubergine and pepper with other veg you like, such as potato, beans, cauliflower, to name a few. Or, add a plant-based protein, tofu, to make it more filling.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- ½ aubergine
- ½ green pepper
- ½ small onion
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
For the Sauce
- 1 tbsp miso (any kind)
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- black pepper
How to Make
- Cut the aubergine and pepper into chunks. Slice the onion.
- Warm the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, sauté the onions until softened, tip in the aubergine and let cook until it take on some colour. Also add the green pepper to soften a bit. (Shorten the cooking time if you prefer a crunchy texture)
- Meanwhile, mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Pour in the sauce and cover with a lid. Cook until the sauce is thickened. Serve with hot steamed rice.
